


I'll See Myself Out

by Innocentfighter



Series: Gone, Gone is the way of the Soldier [1]
Category: Green Lantern (Comics), Green Lantern - All Media Types
Genre: Airplane Crashes, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Depression, Divorce, Everything Hurts, Family Drama, Gen, Infidelity, Major Character Injury, Martin Jordan survives, Origin Story, Power Rings, Pre-Canon, Recklessness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-18 02:03:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16986051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Innocentfighter/pseuds/Innocentfighter
Summary: Hal doesn’t have much going for him. He’s divorced, and his family hates him, so of course he’s going to say yes to the ring.





	I'll See Myself Out

**Author's Note:**

> Yeh. Another series. The last thing that I need to do. This one is a little wonky.

_“You have been chosen, Harold Jordan of Earth. Do you accept?”_

Hal blinked, looking around for the sound of the voice, only for his eyes to track back to the ring. It wasn’t like anything he’d ever seen before, and it was sitting stationary in the air. It was radiating an aura that only spurred Hal’s desire to reach out at touch it.

“Oh, hell yes,” he paused briefly to say before grabbing the ring.

Milliseconds before he touched the ring it spun around and placed itself onto his finger. Hal swallowed thinking about Frodo and a volcano before shrugging. If he had to, he would. His vision went green, and once it cleared, he looked down to see that he was no longer dressed in his flight uniform.

In the distance, he could see a dust column, and he thought about the suit disappearing. To his surprise, and sudden exhaustion, it did. As the truck neared, he slipped his hand into his pocket, leaning back and plastering an easy grin on his face.

“Hal!” Carol was leaping out of the truck before it came to a complete stop. Her mouth was twisted into a scowl, but there were lines at her eyes.

He raised an eyebrow, “problem?”

The lines at her eyes disappeared as they narrowed, her lips pushed out and she crossed her arms, “what happened?”

Hal thought about the warmth on his finger before shrugging, “I don’t know. Must’ve blacked out. How’d I get out here anyway?”

“You have to go to medical,” Carol sighed heavily, “we’ll worry about the plane after your cleared.”

Hal felt a pang in his chest. Not too long ago, Carol wouldn’t have been able to keep their personal and business lives separate. It wasn’t longing, he had no right.

* * *

_“Hal!” Carol cried, running up to hug him, “I was so worried. You didn’t call, and I couldn’t get ahold of Jack or Jim.”_

_He didn’t reciprocate the hug, guilt was pulling his shoulders tight, “I have to tell you something.”_

_“What is it?” Carol pulled away, lines on her eyes and her mouth twisted._

**_She knows what’s coming._ ** _Hal thought. Slowly he leads her over to the table and she sat down, her eyes never leaving his._

_Before he could speak, she did, “don’t tell me, if it's what I think is going to come out of your mouth. We’ll call it a bad night and leave it at that.”_

_Hal’s face turned to stone as he thought about it. What he was being offered was a way out, but he couldn’t do that to them. He’d hurt the relationship bad enough already. It wasn’t fair to Carol._

_“I can’t do that. It’ll just fester, remember how it was with your parents?”_

_Carol’s mouth twisted out into a frown and her eyes narrowed, “we’re not like them. You just got drunk, spent the night in a hotel room, and forgot to tell me.”_

_Hal sighed heavily, “I did get drunk. Too drunk, and I did forget to call you. In fact, I even spent the night in a hotel room, but I wasn’t alone.”_

_“Damn it, Hal,” she whispered, “why? Why’d you have to tell me.?”_

_“It’s not fair to you.”_

_“We were happy. Why did you have to ruin it?”_

_“How happy would we be to having this sit in the closet?” Hal countered just as quietly._

_“We would have managed,” Carol spat back, “I loved you, and you loved me. Why?”_

_“I don’t have an answer,” Hal hung his head low. “I got drunk and she was there. That’s it.”_

_“You’re ruining our marriage for a single night?” Carol crossed his arms._

_“It was a mistake. It doesn’t have to end anything-”_

_“Now it does. Four years Hal, how can I defend myself once this gets out. They’ll accuse you of serial cheating, they’ll call me weak.”_

_“I’m sorry,” he ran a hand through his hair, “Carol, I’m so sorry. I’d change last night if I could. It won’t happen again, but I understand if you want a divorce.”_

_Carol sat back down, having stood during her tirade, “Hal. You goddamned fool, don’t say that word like it changes anything you’ve done.”_

* * *

The doctors gave him a clean bill of health, before recommending that he take the next week off, in case it was a medical problem that had caused him to blackout a loose control of the plane. As always, Carol seemed happy that she wouldn’t have to see him for a couple of days. He was grateful she hadn’t fired him after their divorce. They were both adults, now at least, those first few weeks were rough.

Hal for once put up no argument, instead of packing his bag and heading towards his car. He checked his phone and saw one missed call from **Jack Jordan.** There was a slight wince as he picked up the phone.

_“Call us back when we get this. Heard there was an incident at the airfield.”_

Hal snorted. No matter how strained he made the relationship with his family, after Dad’s accidents, all of the Jordans were aware of the dangers of planes. Even Martin warned against them, he was left crippled after all. At some point, they had decided to liken him to Judas for joining the air force.

He supposed that’s what started this entire family feud and the main reason he wasn’t invited to the Shabbat any more. In following the established tradition, Hal didn’t call Jack but instead sent a text with a thumbs up. Carol would have scolded him, but she had been The main reason that his family had tolerated him.

After the divorce... Hal blew out a long sigh of air. He was just glad Carol had spared them both, by refusing to give anyone the real reason that they divorced. It was better to hear that they couldn’t get past the disagreements that occurred at work when they were behind closed doors. Though Hal would have gladly dealt with the glares and looks if it sparred Carol any more pain.

The ring chirped, and he jumped in surprise. Cautiously he pulled it out of his pocket, and it gave off that earthly green glow.

_“A Lantern unit has been dispatched.”_

“A what?” He asked it, but it didn’t answer.

Hal shrugged. He supposed that he would find out when it happened.

* * *

_“Harold Jordan!” His father yelled._

_Hal sighed and pushed himself up from the desk, he ignored Jim’s look of panic as he walked into the living room. As he expected, the Air Force information he had squirreled away was on display on the coffee table._

_His mom was sitting down in one of the chairs. Her face was open, but she was spinning the ends of her hair around her finger. Jack was smirking from further in the kitchen. **Traitor.**_

_He kept his face neutral, “what’s wrong, Dad?”_

_Martin grabbed the brochures before wheeling over to where Hal was standing. Hal raised an eyebrow at the pamphlets thrust into his chest._

_“What are those? And don’t be a smart ass.”_

_“I want to fly planes,” Hal said with a shrug, “the Air Force is the best place to do that. They have all of the newest planes.”_

_There was no use in beating around the bush. His father would still be mad and afraid. Hal would still join. This argument would be one of many to become routine._

_“Why? You’re smart, why don’t you go to school and learn how to make the newest jets?” Martin countered._

_“Because that’s not what I want to do.”_

* * *

Hal did regret that he was no longer as close to Martin after the accident. He knew some people just never got over the fact that they had something taken from them. He knew he would struggle if he suddenly found himself paralyzed.

The fact that he still loved planes more than anything had always rubbed his family the wrong way as if he wasn’t taking his father’s accident seriously. He just knew that there was nothing else that would be as fulfilling to him as flying.

Or rather, nothing else gave him the rush that he craved.

Maybe this strange ring would give him the answer.

He shook himself out of his thoughts and started his car. Nothing would change so long as he remained a pilot and his family was on better terms with Carol than with him. The drive back to his apartment seemed longer than usual, but the guilt that usually washed in after bad days was kept at bay.

Slowly he made his way up the stairs, ignoring the old lady that didn’t like him. Some days he swore that it was his old high school English teacher, but that was weird to think. So no. But if it was her, then her dislike made a lot more sense and at least gave him a reason he never got a tin of holiday cookies, or maybe because they were specifically Christmas cookies and she didn’t want to offend him... _never thought about that._

He ran a hand through his hair, his thoughts were everywhere today. Probably because of what happened to him in the plane. Hal tossed his keys onto the table and locked the door behind him before he headed directly towards his bedroom. Sleep would help.

When he awoke it took him several seconds to realize what had woken him up, his room was filled with an eerie strange (but slowly becoming familiar) green glow.

The glow was coming from the pink skinned alien floating in his apartment.

“You’re the man who is replacing Abin Sur?”

Hal frowned, “Abin Sur?”

“The man who wore the ring before you,” the alien said.

“Oh,” Hal rubbed his eyes, “I never met him.”

The alien snorts, “of course not. To pass a ring on you have to die.”

“Huh,” Hal sat up, “so what are you doing here?”

“I’ve come to collect you,” the alien sneered, “you must begin your lantern training.”

“My what?”

The alien landed and moved closer, “your ring gives you the ability to become a Green Lantern, but you must prove that you’re capable of performing as a Green Lantern.”

Hal tilted his head, “like basic training?”

“I suppose,” the alien scowled, “let us go. But I will allow you to set your affairs in order.”

Hal thought back to his crumbled relationship with Carol. She would never forgive him and she was six months into a relationship with some bigshot CEO. His family only invited him for token holidays and barely made sure that he was alive. He’s pretty sure that he could pick up and move away, and the only people that would come after him are MPs for a court martial.

“Let’s go now.”

The alien looked surprised, “you will be gone for a long time.”

Hal shrugged, “there’s not much here.”

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think in the comments below. Yes. I know, I ruined canon. But listen. I can't ruin DC more than they've done it to themselves.


End file.
